Monthly Archives: October 2015

Accompanied by the weary, dust shrouded soldiers of the Legion, Nhaqosa and his band of former gladiators and slaves found themselves marching back through the city and its empty streets. The storm on the horizon grew closer, a wall of dust and sand that clawed high into the air, threatening to swamp them like an oncoming tidal wave.

Beneath a faded red standard marched a body of soldiers in tight formation. The standard pole was crested by a golden sun, atop of which perched a spread winged hawk, gripping the sun in its talons. The standard itself also was emblazoned with the golden sun, in the centre of which, picked out with red thread, had been embroidered the number three.

The city of Ardanium faded away in the distance as Carse stood at the prow of one of the many barges that plied the great river Shalahir. Ahead were the many cities that dotted the Swordlands before the river reached the distant one of Qaiqala, mightiest of them all. Behind, nothing existed for him any more in the city of his birth. Too many painful memories existed there, and too many questions that would be asked.

The band trooped out into what had once been a broad, paved plaza at the heart of the city. A thin layer of rolling sand now covered it, stirred by the winds. A fountain stood at the centre of the plaza, the water now dried out and the basin clogged up with dust and sand, more of which was banked up around it. Once, when the water had flowed, it had been a marvel, having the form of a man astride a horse, his sword raised towards the heavens, supported by four dragons from whose mouths the water had spouted.

Stabbing pains lanced through Carse’s side as he ran through the city, his legs afire from fatigue and lungs rasping for air as he breathed. He pushed through the milling crowds, unconcerned about who saw him, or for any he knocked aside. At last he came to the entrance to the villa and once more his senses told him something was wrong. The gate sat part open, and yet the big black Kurushu man, Akamba, was nowhere to be seen, an unprecedented occurrence. Carse loosened the Red Blade in its scabbard and darted away from the gate itself, to a place further along the wall.